Jordan-Malaysia ties ‘hold untapped potential’ —ambassador

AMMAN — Jordan and Malaysia's trade, education and tourism ties "still hold untapped potential" for both countries, highlighted Malaysia’s Ambassador to Jordan Datuk Jilid Kuminding in an interview with The Jordan Times on Thursday.

Jordan's "strategic location and wise leadership'', as put by the ambassador, makes it an "important partner" in the region.

"Jordan and Malaysia's trade relations hold great potential, especially because of the Aqaba port and the Kingdom's good banking system," he added.

However, in light of the recent events in Syria and Iraq, the ambassador said Jordanian importers had to cut down on their imports from Malaysia, but now that the borders with both countries have reopened, he hopes the trade ties will "once again thrive".

The investment of APCO's oil shale-fuelled project, which is 45 per cent owned by the Malaysian YTL Power company, will be the second-largest oil shale-fuelled power plant in the world, noted the ambassador.

Now almost 80 per cent complete, the investment is valued at $2.1 billion.

According to official figures, bilateral trade increased by 20 per cent in 2018.

In higher education, Jordan is home to more than 745 Malaysian students, while Malaysia hosts 2,156 Jordanian students.

"I think Malaysian and Jordanian students find comfort in those two countries because of the good universities on both fronts, similar religion, and welcoming culture," added the ambassador.

He mentioned that while Arabic and Islamic studies is the major of choice for most Malaysian students in Jordan, a rising number of medical, dentistry and engineering students have registered in the past few years.

On the tourism front, a total of around 14,600 Jordanian tourists visited Malaysia in 2018, which is a "substantial increase of 84.5 per cent" compared to 2017, concluded the ambassador.